Happy 16th, Chris Chambers
by BoatsAgainstTheCurrent
Summary: The title says it all. It's Chris' 16th birthday. What does Castle Rock have in store for him on this special day? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Okay, so I have definitely been uploading a lot of new stories and not finishing them. But this is a very important story because it's a birthday present to my best friend. I wanted to make it a one-shot, but I've decided it needs to be just a bit longer. It'll probably just be a two-shot, at most three chapters. Anyway, this one's for you CherryCokesAndWinterSmokes. **

November 26th, 1962

Chris had a bad start to his birthday.

He woke up having dreamt about paradise and found himself in his usual place. The dream had taken him to a place far from Castle Rock, a place like California or Hawaii. It had been a beautiful place, with bright blue skies and chirping birds and happy people. Instead, he was stuck in a town with dark skies, howling wolves and coyotes, and sadness everywhere.

Pulling his raggedy covers off of his body, he stood up and threw on a fresh red shirt and the first pair of jeans he could find. Not wanting to leave his room, one of the only safe places in the house, he sat back down on his bed and stared blankly at the white wall.

"It's my birthday," he said aloud to his baseball glove, the only comforting thing in the room, "It's my birthday. I'm sixteen today. And either I'm stuck in here all day, or I go out there and risk a serious beating."

So he waited there an hour, watching the time tick by on his alarm clock.

Occasionally, he thought about getting up, but in the end he was too tired and didn't really care enough.

Time passed him slowly as he anxiously awaited something to happen. He braced himself for any sudden crashes, shouts, or screams, thuds or slams, but none came. For an hour. For an hour he sat in the exact same position, staring at the wall with a baseball glove in his hand.

Finally, at exactly 10:12 am, the sharp crack of a rock hitting a window sounded throughout the room and Chris jumped sky high off of his bed. Any sound got a reaction out of him, but this one he knew was intentional, that someone was here to rescue him.

Excitedly, he peered through the window, expecting his best friend to be grinning up at him and waving. But his smile faltered when all he found was an angry father on the lawn holding a bunch of heavy rocks and sporting a torn up baseball cap.

"Get your ass down here you lazy bastard!" He started yelling, "It's already after ten and you haven't gotten the god damn eggs from the grocery store yet!" Chris knew his father wasn't drunk. But whenever he woke up with a hangover, he was really grumpy... to say the least.

Chris rolled his eyes and sighed. He had forgotten all about the eggs he always had to get from the grocery store on Saturday mornings. It was Mr. Chambers' second favorite thing to do next to beating his sons, making them go out and do stuff for him. Most of the time he asked for beers and cigarettes, but every Saturday morning was egg-fetching day.

Putting on his favorite, and only, pair of keds, Chris grabbed his "egg-fetching" bag and hurried out of his room before his father could yell at him through the window again. He had no jacket, so he rushed throughout town in the frosty weather with only his thin shirt and jeans to keep him warm.

He continued to feel sorry for himself, with good reason. He had no jacket – or anything else to keep him warm, no loving family, no money, no food, no birthday, and plenty of beatings. "At least he didn't beat me today," and Chris liked to think that that was his birthday present from his father.

He could just imagine it coming from Doug Chambers' voice, "Happy birthday you little bastard. You're in luck, no beatings today."

He shivered, partially from the cold and partially from the creepy thought of his father's horrifying voice. It was bad enough that he was always pounding around the house like an elephant and shouting at everyone with any chance he got, but the thought of a calmly evil voice was enough to give Chris nightmares.

Yet on he ran, bag in hand, until he finally made it into the warmth of Sami's grocery store. Lucky for him, Sami was a good friend of his and made shopping for his father just a little more bearable.

"What's up, man?" Sami practically shouted from behind the counter, packing cigarette boxes into shelves.

Sami Ahmad was a good looking young man, known as the second most handsome boy in Castle Rock. He was tall and lean, but gained muscles by lifting boxes all day, had beautiful gray-green eyes, a perfectly sculpted jawline, a small pointed nose, slightly darker than olive colored skin, a slight quiff of dark hair, and a short-boxed beard, complete with side burns. It was enough to make girls swoon and stop in the street. Even the small scar underneath his left eye made him beautiful.

"Oh, not much. It's my birthday today," Chris replied.

"Damn man, really?! Happy birthday!" He came out from behind the counter to give Chris a heavy slap on the back. Chris often thought that Sami was far too... what was the word? Happy. Far too happy to be a man living in Castle Rock, "How old are ya?"

Chris sat down on a stool from next to the entrance, "16." He grabbed a quick glance at a clock hanging on the far end of the store, "As of ten minutes ago to be precise."

"Well I'll be damned. You're only two years younger than I am." Sami grinned as he made his way back to packing cigarette boxes away.

Noticing that Chris looked upset, his smile froze, "Man, what the hell is wrong with you today? You should be celebrating! 16, man! That's a fuckin big deal!" He threw his hands in the air to emphasize his point.

"Nothing, I'm just kinda tired, that's all." Chris was in no mood to spill his feelings to Sami, the only man in town who seemed so ecstatic to be living there.

"Well, alright then. Man, I don't like people getting me down. Turn that frown around, buddy! It's your birthday. You're supposed to be out there havin' fun, findin' yourself a pretty girl, not in here buyin' those stupid eggs."

Chris sighed. Sami was usually right, though it could be really hard to take his advice when all you could hear was his excitement.

"Alright, fine," Chris said, getting up and placing the stool back in its rightful spot. He ran a hand through his wavy, blonde hair and straightened himself.

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Sami shouted triumphantly.

And with that, he shoved Christopher Chambers out the door, forgetting to give him the eggs he came for.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part two of my two part one-shot. Gordie and Chris hang out on Chris' 16th birthday. Follow them through a day of adventure and mishaps. Please enjoy!**

The moment Chris was out of those doors, Sami slammed them loudly behind him and peeked out from one of the windows, grinning widely.

"Go on," he mouthed with urgency, "Go."

Chris sighed, having already forgotten about the eggs, and turned to face the road just as a stuttering, age-old Ford Coupe came down it. He couldn't tell who it was. All he knew was that it stank and sent fumes of gasoline into the already filthy air. Closing his eyes and holding his nose to avoid any further fumes, he stepped back against the brick wall of Sami's shop.

"Hey, birthday boy!" A voice shouted through the stuttering.

Slowly, as if not trusting the voice, Chris opened his eyes to see Gordie Lachance putting the old car in park, shutting off the ignition, and opening the door.

"Oh, hey there Gordo. Nice clunker."

Gordie rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically, "Very funny." He patted the Coupe's hood as if it were a loving pet, allowing more smoke to billow from it, "I just got it at the junk yard for only fifty bucks. Not bad, huh?"

"Uhh, right," Chris raised his eyebrows, "Sure thing. You didn't go to Milo's right?"

Gordie couldn't help but laugh, "Hell no, Chris. Who do you think I am? I wouldn't go back to that place if I were fifty years older, bald and toothless. I wouldn't risk him recognizing me."

Chris chuckled in response and sighed in a nostalgic way, "Good times."

There was a silence between the two boys for a moment, in which they both remembered their scaling of the junk yard fence, before Chris broke it, "So, how'd you get the money for it?"

"Oh, y'know, I got some money from the Benton's next door over the summer for mowing their lawn. But, that's not important because it's your birthday and we're going for a ride! And I have some extra cash to buy us some burgers and fries at Blue Point."

Chris didn't trust the old clunker with its fuming and stinking ways. It frightened him, but in the spirit of Sami's advice on a perfect birthday, Chris ignored it and got into the Coupe.

"So, we'll hang out at the diner and then do whatever," Gordie grinned enthusiastically, clearly intent upon making that day the best 16th birthday ever. Chris grinned back. At this point all of the day's previous worries had vanished. He no longer thought about how lonely he was at home in his room. He no longer worried about getting the eggs or a beating. Every care had escaped him and now he only worried about having a good time with his only family in the world, Gordie Lachance.

* * *

They stopped at the Blue Point Diner at half past twelve for a few cokes and some good-natured laughs. It was a busy joint, with people of all ages and backgrounds calling it their hangout.

"An order of fries coming up!"

"Table 22- the deluxe burger with a large coke and a side of salad with ranch dressing!"

The bustle of the place created the only air of excitement and happiness ever to exist in Castle Rock, so Chris and Gordie liked to hang out there a lot.

They parked the old Coupe on the street and went on in, scouring the diner for some pretty girls they could pick up. They'd gotten lucky a few times before, but not too often.

Chris sighed, "Sami told me to find a girl. I just don't know if I can. They're all the same, Gordo."

"Oh, old Sami. The guy doesn't know the slightest thing about picking up girls. Despite his good looks, he hasn't had a girl in at least three years."

Chris nodded his agreement, "That's true. It's so boring when all the girls at school look, talk and act the same. It's just so... fake."

"Yeah," Gordie agreed, "I know."

They took a seat in the very back of the restaurant in a small booth big enough for two.

"How about we forget Sami's advice and just hang out the two of us?" Gordie offered just as a pack of preppy girls walked by, batting their eyes at the boys and smiling innocently.

Chris looked from the girls back to Gordie as he chugged the coke their waitress had just brought them, "Yeah, I like that idea."

Instead of spending their lunch looking around the diner, they enjoyed themselves laughing and stuffing themselves with food. It had even become a fun game of the boys' to prank, disgust or annoy anyone that walked by the window they sat at.

Gordie stuck two straws in his hair and spread mustard around his lips. When a young couple walked by he made a face at them, crossing his eyes and puffing his cheeks. The female threw them a death glare and the male stuck up his middle finger.

This joking around went on for many minutes, during which Chris cramped up and fell to the floor with laughter. Eventually the couple in the booth next to them complained to a waitress and the owner was called down to ban Chris and Gordie from the diner for a week.

They stumbled out into the crisp air, doubled over in laughter so that they looked dead drunk. Gordie was caked in mustard and ketchup from head to toe.

"You're so immature, Gordo," Chris spoke in between laughs and he held his sides.

"So are you, man," Gordie smiled, "Hey, do me a favor and get my keys out of my pocket, will you? I'm covered in food."

Chris reached over into Gordie's coat pocket, found the keys and took them. Unfortunately, there were two keys in that pocket and one of them fell so quickly to the ground that it was hard to see it fall splashing into the street gutter.  
Chris' eyes widened and he had a hard time believing what he saw.

"Um..." Chris said, "Damn."

"Oh shit," Gordie said, staring down at the gutter as if the key would jump right back up if he did so.

Chris knelt down and looked into it, hoping that the keys would miraculously sit afloat on water filled to the brim of the gutter. No such luck.

"God, I'm so sorry Gordie. I could call the city or something, or I could crawl down there myself."

"Jesus Chris, no it's fine. I've got an extra set at home. I'll just walk back and get it."

The boys stood silently in the crisp cold of the town. Once they began walking to Gordie's house they thanked the heavens for living in such a small town and Chris found himself apologizing every minute.

"Chris, how many times do I have to tell you, it's fine! It's really not a big deal. The most important thing is that I still want you to have a great birthday," He looked very seriously at Chris and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

Chris burst out laughing, "Man, I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously. You're caked in mustard."

Gordie sighed and licked his lips, hoping that would help, "Come on, I've still got five bucks. I bet you we'll run into Vern if we go to Carson's candy shop."

So they walked to candy heaven and entered into the sweet aroma of sugar. Sure enough, Vern Tessio held a bag filled with candy in his hand and sat on the floor eating it.

When the ringing of the doorbell startled him, he looked up and saw Chris and Gordie in a bad state; disheveled hair, food on their faces, flushed cheeks.

"Hey there guys! Happy birthday, Chris! God, what happened to you two? You're a mess! Wanna sit and have some candy?" Vern beckoned them over and strung every word together in a hurry.

"Whoa, slow it down Verno. Too much sugar ain't good for you."

"Nah, I'm fine. So what happened exactly?"

"It's kind of a long story," Gordie sighed.

"I like stories," Vern perked up and widened his eyes.

So Gordie went on to tell about the day's adventures. He talked about how he got his old clunker at a junk yard (during which Vern asked the same thing Chris originally did), about how he drove to the diner and got them kicked out, how Chris dropped the keys in the street gutter (during which Chris apologized again) and then how they had gotten to the candy shop.

"Sounds like a crazy day," Vern said.

"You have no idea."

The boys rested against the candy stacked shelves and ate until they felt about to pop.  
Carson, the shop owner, was in the back taking a nap, according to Vern.

"He really trusts you with his shop," Chris said a little worriedly.

"Yeah, guess he does," Vern shrugged as if this was no big deal to him.  
Then the three friends sat in silence until an angry face appeared in the shop window and they all jumped sky high.

"Jesus Vern, is that your mom?"

Sure enough, Mrs. Tessio stood outside with her face glued to the window. Her words were muffled but it was clear that Vern was supposed to be home.

"Shit!" Vern shouted, "Sorry guys, gotta go!" And he jumped up rapidly, shooting out the shop door with his candy.

"Yikes, that's the only time I've ever seen Mrs. Tessio so mad," Gordie added into the awkward silence.  
He looked to his right and saw that Chris was fast asleep.

* * *

Once Gordie had finally managed to poke his friend awake, they left the candy shop, still sick and stuffed with sweets.

"Ugh, how does Vern handle this shit? I think I'm gonna vomit," Chris held his stomach as they walked slowly down the sidewalk.  
He took a sudden step back and blew all over concrete and his favorite white shirt.

"Damn."

Gordie avoided looking at the sick all over the ground and quickly ushered Chris away, "Okay, let's get you home."

The rest of their little trip seemed to take a while. It was bitter cold and Chris was only in a t-shirt.  
At least the vomit was warming him up a bit.

It was already ten p.m. as they reached the Chambers residence and before Chris had to go in, he and Gordie sat on the street curb and exchanged a few words.

"I'm sorry, man," Gordie said with his head in his hands. "I feel like this is all my fault."

Chris sat back in shock and put a hand on Gordie's back, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"This day. This whole day. I wanted it to be a great birthday, but I ruined it. I drove you off to Blue Point and got us kicked out for a week, I let you get my keys when I knew there were two in there and one was bound to drop, I brought you to the candy shop and let you stuff your face so that you became sick, and now your dad might beat you just because you're home late and you were supposed to get eggs today."

Chris frowned, "Gordie, none of that was your fault or in your control. I had a hell of a lot of fun today! This was the best day I've had in forever and most definitely the best birthday ever. I forgot every damn little thing that was bothering me this morning when you picked me up in that shit car of yours."

Gordie laughed.

"But shit, I did forget the eggs."

In sudden remembrance, he knew his dad would kill him. But at the moment it didn't really matter. He put an arm around Gordie. Nope, it really didn't matter because he was with his best friend.

"Happy 16th, Chris Chambers."


End file.
